Awakenings
by JuniperGentle
Summary: The moment of awakening is different for everyone, and sometimes the greatest awakening is not the passage from sleep to wakefulness. My November challenge, in place of NaNoWriMo. Complete, but uploading requests! Request #5 - Team Desert Blaze (from Nile Befall)
1. Day 1 - Gingka

_November is NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. _

_I've wanted to take part in it for a while, but as I have university work coming down on me like the proverbial ton of bricks, I can't this year._

_However, I still want to challenge myself this month, and get back into writing every day, because I'm fully aware of the fact that I've recently lost a lot of my Plot Bunnies not due to a lack of time to write but simply due to neglect. _

_All that is going to change._

_For the next 30 days, I'm going to be writing and uploading one chapter of this story per day, with each chapter (well, the story bit, anyway) being exactly 150 words long, leaving me with a total word-count of 4500. That's a lot more manageable for this time-strapped university student than the 50,000 bar NaNoWriMo sets!_

_I'm hoping that this will reignite my desire to write longer things, and I promise that I will keep writing the next chapters of each of my other fics in between, but my writing is in a very stuck place at the moment and I need a big shock to get out of it._

_The one-shots will focus on one character per day, using the theme of "awakening". I have a list of who will be on each day, so I know exactly who I have to do next. You can, of course, request, but you might have to wait for a Christmas Special!_

* * *

**AWAKENING**

**Gingka**

It was so quiet.

There were birds singing in the trees outside his window, happy that the sun had returned. The leaves rustled, a susurration that ran through the village like the stream that tumbled down the mountainside. Somewhere, a group of children were having a beybattle. Their voices rose, laughter ringing from the encircling trees.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't _that_ quiet.

But Gingka could still hear the silence inside the house. The fire had long since died and no-one had rebuilt it. The floorboards lay silent as no-one walked softly over them. No-one sang as he made breakfast, and no-one called happily to Gingka to get up and out of bed because the day was beautiful, perfect for blading.

Gingka curled up tighter under the covers and listened to the silence with his eyes closed against tears, as he awoke to the knowledge that his father wasn't there.


	2. Day 2 - Masamune

**Masamune**

The earsplitting sound of his alarm was definitely not what Masamune Kadoya wanted to hear at four o'clock in the morning. He'd been up for hours packing the night before because he'd spent the whole day with Toby in the hospital. He'd gone to say goodbye and they'd ended up talking about beyblades and tournaments until the nurse firmly told them that visiting hours were over. Who cared? Toby had been happy to see his friend one last time.

Masamune shot upright in bed. Saying goodbye! _That_ was why his alarm had gone off so early!

Today was the day he would show Toby just why he had to get better soon.

For today was the day that Masamune Kadoya would fly halfway across the globe to beat Gingka Hagane and show the world just who was the _real_ number one.

Today was the day he would make Toby proud.


	3. Day 3 - Madoka

_Many thanks for all the reviews. Because I'm uploading every day, I won't reply to every review right now, but I cherish them all!_

* * *

**Madoka**

The morning sun through the skylight woke her – that, and she was too warm. Madoka sat upright, puzzled by the quilt around her shoulders. She had fallen asleep at her workbench, and Leone's attack ring had left an indent on her right cheek.

Who had been there last night with her? It had been a big post-tournament thing that ended with everyone going home at ridiculous hours of the morning. Kenta had already gone when she started work on Leone. So had Benkei.

Kyouya? No. It wasn't his thing, being seen to care.

Maybe Tsubasa? He was easily the most compassionate and practical, after all.

Or, it could have been Gingka, the one she would call her closest friend.

Folding the quilt over the back of her chair, she caught sight of a note on her workbench, and smiled.

_Sweetie,_

_Breakfast in fridge. Hope you slept well. _

_Love,_

_Dad._


	4. Day 4 - Julian

**Julian**

First, he had to get dressed. Of course, the maids would have laid his perfectly ironed clothes out for him an hour earlier, so he didn't waste precious time choosing.

Then jogging, which would only take about fifteen minutes, but the shower afterwards and a change of clothes would take that to thirty five minutes.

Breakfast was at eight thirty precisely.

After that, he had lessons. It was Friday, so he had Maths, Italian and Geography before lunch... and nothing after lunch, because he had a tournament to win. He always won.

In the evening he had two interviews, one to be conducted entirely in French, before a black-tie dinner with his father.

Piano rehearsals after dinner would take him to ten o'clock. A short ride around the grounds would allow him to unwind before bed.

But before he did any of that, Julian Konzern _actually had to wake up_.


	5. Day 5 - Zeo

**Zeo**

Ugh.

This was not the most comfortable place he'd ever fallen asleep. There was a crick in his neck and his right arm had gone completely dead. He shook it gently, trying not to wake the boy he was sitting beside.

It had been three days since he had arrived at the hospital to discover that Masamune had – impulsively, as usual – taken off for Japan, leaving him completely alone.

Okay, okay, he had Toby. Of course he had Toby. But when one of your best friends was in hospital and the other was half a world away, it didn't exactly make for a great social life. He couldn't even practice beyblading any more.

Zeo pulled a face. He'd been dreaming that they were all back together, winning the World Championships together.

Compared to that, the world he had woken up to, with hospital machines beeping in the background, was nothing.


	6. Day 6 - Dashan

**Dashan**

Beylin Temple was only truly quiet two hours before dawn.

Training for the elite members of the temple carried on far into the night, and as soon as the sun sprang in fire over the mountains the teachers would set the great gong in the courtyard ringing to summon their students to another long day of practice and training. That was why Dashan always made sure to wake up before then.

It was always freezing cold when he got up. Living several thousand feet above the rest of the world had its downsides.

He didn't train then; even the leader of Beylin Temple had his limits, and he knew them well.

In his world, he was the calm centre of the storm, and sometimes he just had to remember what that sounded like.

So he sat above the gate, doing nothing but listening to the sound of a sleeping earth.


	7. Day 7 - Damian

**Damian**

The light was really strange. It rippled through his eyes like watery silk, and it wasn't the right colour.

He could taste something sharp on his tongue, and something in his head said _this is blood._ He didn't really know what blood was, but apparently he had some.

The smell _(ozone,_ whispered the past) was nearly unbearable, but some silent fan was sucking it all away. In its place came cool, fresh air that still held an odd scent. His brain supplied the word _pine_ but didn't bother to explain what this strange new idea meant. It probably didn't matter.

Invisible lightning trickled across his fingers, spreading up his arms. Under his rock-smooth skin his muscles jumped and skittered like frightened ants spilling out of a kicked nest. Slowly, they began to bunch and pull together until they flowed like lava down a mountainside.

Damian opened his eyes.

_ARRANGEMENT COMPLETE._


	8. Day 8 - Johannes

**Johannes**

The black tomcat curled around his head like a hat. A ginger queen and her litter of tiny, three-week-old kittens snuggled into the warm hollow by his stomach as he lay on his side. Three strays from the alley out back draped themselves over his feet, keeping them toasty.

This was the third night in a row that Johannes had been sleeping on a sofa. The various underlings that he had led whilst under Nemesis weren't exactly renowned for having spare beds.

He had nowhere else to go. He'd always been a wanderer, seeking shelter for one night, eating all the food and then vanishing, only to repeat the action a week later as he went through his whole list of contacts. What else was a man who identified more with cats than people meant to do?

But this place had nice cats. Maybe he'd stay here one more day.


	9. Day 9 - Toby

**Toby**

The lights in the corridor hummed quietly in the stillness. From his bed by the window, Toby could hear the scratch of the nurse's pen as he noted down his patient's most recent stats. The nurse said that he was improving every day, but Toby didn't feel it.

He hadn't seen Zeo in over a week. Something to do with practice for the Championship. Toby didn't mind too much (at least Zeo _did_ actually visit), but he missed his friend, especially as Masamune was... well, he was somewhere.

Worse, his parents couldn't come to visit either. They had been so grateful to Doctor Ziggurat for funding Toby's medical costs at such a prestigious hospital, but it was so far away from home!

Toby rolled over and closed his eyes. He just wished that when he woke up, there could be at least one friendly face in the seat beside him.


	10. Day 10 - King

**King**

Masamune's house was _awesome_! Probably his favourite place to stay _ever,_ except maybe that massive five-star hotel they'd been allowed to hang around in for a week or so after Nemesis went down. That had been pretty cool.

King grinned at the ceiling. He'd only been here a day and he never wanted to leave. The rooms weren't as big here, but they were full of things that had made weird shadows on the wall the night before. Now, though, they looked pretty ordinary as the sun slipped around the edges of the blinds. A bookcase, half-full. A wicker basket for laundry. A chair with an elaborate carved back. A small lamp, borrowed from the living room.

It was a nice room. It was a nice house. The food was excellent.

But best of all? His best friend Masamune was there in the next room.

King _loved_ Masamune's house.


	11. Day 11 - Doji

**Doji**

The air was absolutely still.

He breathed in the utter nothingness, all senses gone. Without sight or feeling, he didn't know which was was up or down or right or left. He could hear nothing, not even the beat of his own heart or the breath seeping in and out of his lungs. He wasn't even sure that he was alive any more.

_You belong to me,_ said a voice in his head, and it wasn't a sound, really. More of an _understanding_ of the Darkness that bled into him from the nothingness. _You are mine._

His lips might have moved. No sound emerged that he could hear. It didn't matter. The Darkness understood.

_You cannot escape from me and I will never let you go. Now, awake. You have a task ahead of you. _

He might have nodded. He probably didn't. The Darkness understood.

_You will not fail me._


	12. Day 12 - Nile

_Links to Stories From A Bunk Bed_

* * *

**Nile**

It felt _weird_ to be sleeping near the floor again. He didn't have to think about whether he was going to roll over and crash to the floor. He didn't have to memorise where the ladder was – if there even was one – in case he got up in the night. And he didn't have to wonder whether the legs might collapse under him and squash Kyouya.

They operated in different worlds now, no longer walking the same road on the same team. Wild Fang no longer slept in twin bunk beds in a single hotel room. Instead, two of them curled up in their hotel beds on the way to yet another tournament, one lay under the stars with the wind for a blanket...

And one stared up at the ceiling, too close to the floor and too far from his friends.

Maybe that was why it felt so weird.


	13. Day 13 - Tithi

**Tithi**

The sun was bright, the birds were singing, and Tithi was awake and out of bed the second that the alarm went off. For a moment, he was disorientated, before he remembered that he was in the WBBA dorms.

"Hey!" A bright blonde head poked itself around the doorframe. "The kitchen's doing pancakes and golden syrup for breakfast, so hurry up before Gingka wakes up!"

Tithi would never have to hide out under rocks that dripped with dew and scrounge underneath them for something vaguely edible to stave off the hunger again. There were people who helped him now, instead of shooing him away. Yuu was his friend now, and Yuu had the power to make songs out of light. Tithi thought that was pretty awesome, actually. He had the best friend in the whole world.

For the first time in his life he hadn't woken up on his own.


	14. Day 14 - Yuu

_Set post- 'Balanced'_

* * *

**Yuu**

Ceilings were overrated, Yuu decided when he'd opened his eyes enough to realise that said ceiling did not belong to any place he recognised. Walls were much more fun to look at when you were waking up, because they had pictures and stuff on. No-one ever put nice things on the ceiling, because that was dumb.

Except that one time that Tsubasa had stuck glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling in Yuu's bedroom in the shape of Libra's constellation so that he would be able to recognise it anywhere and know that his constellation was always with him.

Always... _Libra!_

_Yuu! You're awake! You're awake!_

Libra swarmed his mind with fragmentary images gathered from what seemed like days of waiting, watching, hoping all alone. And for once Yuu was the steady one, reaching back firmly to balance his partner and swear that he'd never leave Libra alone again.

* * *

_Did anyone else have glow-in-the-dark stars on their ceiling in the shape of the constellations when they were younger? I did – I had the Great Bear and the North Star._


	15. Day 15 - Tsubasa

_Halfway through! It doesn't seem like it..._

* * *

**Tsubasa**

In spring, the leaves were new, the air was cold and he could never decide where to sleep. Eagle perched next to him in whatever tree he chose, and spread one wing over Tsubasa's feet.

In summer he slept outside whenever he could, taking jobs as far away from the cities as possible and only sleeping in a 'proper' bed when he had tournaments. He would wake with Eagle swooping overhead, bringing his master and friend some fish for breakfast.

In autumn he began drifting back towards the cities because at least there were roofs there. Eagle woke him by shaking raindrops out of his feathers into his eyes.

In winter, he slept in the WBBA dorms, with Eagle tucked up in the custom-built mews attached to the south wing. When he woke, sometimes things felt a bit odd. A bit lonely, perhaps.

But then it would be spring again.


	16. Day 16 - Faust

**Faust**

When he awakes, the first thing he is aware of is that his eyes have been open for far longer than his consciousness. This is strange, for he is present, not past and he has nothing before the moment he awakes.

He is aware that time passes. He is not sure how he knows this. It is important, maybe. He silently internalises the knowledge.

He is aware that he is unique. He is perfect. He knows this because... well, he doesn't know either. He is not sure what either word actually means, but he knows that is what he is.

And he is aware, as the door to his containment chamber opens, that he has a task he must fulfil, no matter what the cost. He has nothing, and therefore has nothing to lose. He has everything to gain.

He is Faust.

But his eyes were open before he woke.


	17. Day 17 - Demure

**Demure**

The air smelled of dust and heat, the sand cooling beneath him. The rest of his family were long since asleep, but Demure remained awake, utterly entranced by the sight above him.

The stars blazed across the sand like beacons, their intrinsic brilliance undimmed by the moon's reflected light. So far from the man-made lights of the cities and towns, the vastness of the heavens split open above his head, and Demure stared up in awe.

The only time he ever really felt awake was at night when everyone else was asleep. It was the reason why he gave thanks every single evening for the strength of his eyes, because even the daily pain inflicted by the sun was worth enduring for the sake of gazing up at the midnight sky and seeing suns from the past pouring their light down on the hot, dry, dusty sand like silver rain.


	18. Day 18 - Ryo

**Ryo**

He rubbed at his eyes. They ached. Too long staring at a screen did that.

The information that Tsubasa had gathered from the Dark Nebula headquarters during Battle Bladers hadn't been very useful at the time, with nowhere to analyse it. Now he was the Director, he'd taken the time to look through everything that Tsubasa had captured. It had been an unpleasant wake-up call.

There was no mistaking it. Dark Nebula and Hades Inc were inextricably linked, and both had ties to the area where Proto Nemesis had been found. Branches all across the globe had links to the most advanced space programs – including Russia's – and most of the world governments. They had more power than most _countries._

The conclusion was almost too terrifying to admit. Dark Nebula had been in control from the beginning, and the WBBA had played into the hands of the enemy at every turn.


	19. Day 19 - Hikaru

**Hikaru**

She'd been sitting in the waiting room – it was a check-up, nothing more - for about ten minutes when a familiar sound caught her attention. There was a TV in the corner, a group of children staring at it avidly as a rerun of Battle Bladers played.

It took her a second to recognise which battle. _Whose_ battle.

The violet dragon launched itself towards the camera and Hikaru heard her own scream ring loud in her ears as a black wave rose up in front of her vision and drowned her.

.

When she opened her eyes, she was alone in a darkened room. Her heart was still hammering against her ribs, and purple fire burnt behind her eyelids.

She sat up slowly, wrapping her arms around her knees. She couldn't go back to blading now. Not like this. The fire and the rage and the triplicate dragon had destroyed her completely.


	20. Day 20 - Hyoma

**Hyoma**

Hyoma leaned against the windowsill and watched the slow, steady pulse of life in Koma Village rise with the sun. He loved it here, high in the mountains. This place was safe. It kept the rest of the world away – things like the shadow under the mountain that the older generation whispered about.

He'd made up his mind long ago. He was going to stay here in the village forever and protect its borders. No-one would be allowed to enter the village, not unless they overpowered him - which wasn't going to happen any time soon.

After all, Hyoma had beaten Gingka, the heir of the powerful Hagane family, every single time they had battled, and if Pegasus was no threat to Aries, nothing was.

So Hyoma closed his eyes against the morning sun, knowing that when he opened them again, everything would be – and always would be – exactly the same.


	21. Day 21 - Kenta

**Kenta**

He'd been so excited when he woke up. This _had_ to be fate. Someone who could not only blow him out of the water and across the park but could do it to five of the strongest Face Hunters _at the same time_ turned up – and had defended him, Kenta. It _had_ to be a sign – Kenta Yumiya was meant for greatness, or at least meant to follow it.

But as morning faded into afternoon, and he looked in every single place he could think of for the other boy, he was beginning to wonder if he'd actually just dreamed it all.

Dispirited, Kenta took a left turn into the shortcut through the construction site... and then halted, riveted to the spot.

His eyes opened wide. No. No, he couldn't have.

But there was no mistaking that hair. Gingka Hagane was facing the terrible One-Hundred-Bey Battle, and he was _winning._


	22. Day 22 - Bao

_For the first and only time, two updates at once, as I'm away this weekend. Also, linked chapters - Enjoy!_

* * *

**Bao**

They looked awesome, but cloaks were genuinely the most impractical thing for sleeping under _ever. _He would have given a lot for one of the sleeping bags that the Beylin Fist refused to use because – and he had been through this debate hundreds of times with his masters - "if those Beylin Temple fools don't need them, we don't."

He was cold, but there was warmth on his face; someone had a fire going. Who in their right minds could be up this early?

"Here."

A battered tin mug planted itself in front of his nose as he opened his eyes, automatically shielding them from the sunrise. It was nothing more complicated than hot water with a stalk of lemon grass in it, but Bao cracked a half-grin at his companion's faintly amused expression as Aguma's version of coffee finally managed to wake him up.

Well, at least he wasn't alone.


	23. Day 23 - Aguma

**Aguma**

The fire was just settling down from leaping flames to molten embers that he could actually cook something on when he knew that his companion was awake. He didn't have to look - he'd known Bao for so long that he knew his breathing patterns better than his own.

"Here," he said, handing over the mug that had been sitting in the warmest part of the fire for the best part of ten minutes. Bao hummed, a strange, melodic sound that he only made when half-asleep and undecided as to which state he'd rather be in, but drank the contents of the mug before blinking and sighing.

"Why is it always sunrise?" he muttered, all bleary-eyed with his voice muffled by sleep. "Why can't it be an hour afterwards for once?" He scowled. "And I'm _cold._"

Aguma hid a grin behind his usual stoic expression. Bao was _not_ a morning person.

* * *

_No more updates until Sunday..._


	24. Day 24 - Dynamis

**Dynamis**

The first thing that he was aware of was the darkness in the room. How strange was it that in the lifting of the Darkness he could not see anything? Everything was front-to-back – or was it back-to-front?

It didn't matter. He was free, aware of his own actions for the first time in far too long.

Across the dish, Kyouya tilted his head towards him, sending a silent message – _you back to normal? - _and Dynamis managed a single nod –_ yes, this is me now._

"We don't have any time to lose." Kyouya turned away, taking command, as always. But this time, his eyes were brighter, clearer. The Lion walked like a king, not like the prince he had been.

The stars had found Kyouya, and they would not let him go.

It was a comforting thought. At least now, Dynamis knew he was not alone in his battle with fate.


	25. Day 25 - Sophie

**Sophie**

The newspapers called her the _Darling of France,_ and with a famous fashion designer for a mother and a very successful businessman and politician for a father, Sophie had everything a girl could want. Her clothes came from the finest French fashion houses. All of the family meals were prepared by the best chefs in the world. She lived in what could only be called a palace. Her family loved her, and she loved them in return (and would destroy anyone who said otherwise).

But at the same time, she sometimes wondered what it would be like to talk to other children. What it would be like to stand on her own, without the support of her family name to keep her in the spotlight – or out of it.

What it would be like to wake up and think _I am Sophie_, and let that single sentence define her utterly.


	26. Day 26 - Kyouya

_Vaguely linked to the previous one. I may possibly extend this for Unforsaken Road, but you'll have to wait a while..._

* * *

**Kyouya**

He was a long, long way from home. He didn't really know where home was any more, now that...

But he didn't have to think about that any more.

The wind that cut through the gorge was bitter and full of the promise of rain. It bit deep into his exposed skin and tugged at the tattered edges of his blankets. There was a vicious pain in his back where he'd been lying on a particularly large stone, and his stomach was complaining that it hadn't been fed in over twenty-four hours (he'd miscalculated how many days it would take).

But Nile was asleep on the other side of the gorge, under the overhang, and Demure was coming back from the stream with water for tea, and Benkei was sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes...

And Kyouya wouldn't exchange this cold, hungry morning for the world.


	27. Day 27 - Aleksei

**Aleksei**

He opened his eyes.

His room was small, with white walls and a white ceiling and – yes, even the floor was white. All of his things were neatly stored away on their respective shelves, which was good as it took _forever _to sort them all out.

He'd been sleeping in a very strange position, and so it took a moment for him to escape his sleeping bag. Once he'd managed, he made his cautious way over to the window and pulled the blind up.

The Earth curved away beneath him like a jewel, hazy in its warm blanket of atmosphere. High above the ground, but many thousands of miles below his feet, lightning darted through massive clouds like the questing fingers of frost on glass. Cities burned like neurons. Auroras, built from outflung parts of the Sun, blazed across the Northern Hemisphere.

It was his home, and it was breathtaking.

* * *

_Unusually, I'm going to add a Youtube link to this, which is the video that inspired this and that I have tried desperately to recapture in words (and probably failed horribly). _

_(Due to the new Fanfic regulations meaning you can't copy text from stories, the link is now at the top of my profile)_

_The video itself is gorgeous, and the lights and the music and the ideas... but the thing that gets me? I'm in it. And so is every single person reading this fic right now. _

_So hi, guys._


	28. Day 28 - Blader DJ

_Apologies for the mix-up with the Youtube link in the last chapter – I'd forgotten that you can no longer copy-and-paste from stories. The link is now at the top of my profile._

* * *

**Blader DJ**

He was eating breakfast when the call came through. He'd only been awake a few minutes, long enough to get down the stairs and into the kitchen, and so it took him a second to work out what the blare of noise coming from his jacket pocket was.

"'Lo?"

Two minutes and a thirty-second conversation later, he was flying down the path to the field where the helicopter was waiting for him.

He'd known that these two were powerful. After all, he'd been announcing for their respective battles since before Battle Bladers began, and with so many years of experience before that he knew quality when he saw it.

But Gingka and Ryuga were on another level altogether. It was eye-opening, awe-inspiring, earth-shaking, star-breaking...

And he was terrified, because they were so angry and so scared and both _so young._

And they were currently battling in the Final without him.


	29. Day 29 - Ryuga

_This is actually a part of my Dragon Reborn universe, but... we just haven't got there yet. Consider this the tiniest of sneak peeks._

* * *

**Ryuga**

His dragon wrapped his triple self around Ryuga's heart, soul and mind and burned the pattern of his scales into them. Ryuga didn't care. The rage that had spent so many years building up inside him ran like liquid fire along the scale-shapes, binding boy to dragon with terrifying closeness.

It kept him awake every night, the flames burning away the exhaustion in his limbs until the sun broke over the horizon once again.

He almost pitied the people he shared the DN headquarters with, because they had to waste so much time completely dead to the world – and their constellations.

Did they not realise that night was when the constellations were at their strongest? Or were they just afraid to be enfolded in the power of the universe as it howled down through the centuries?

Ryuga was not afraid. He had L-Drago. His dragon would not let him fall.


	30. Day 30 - Rago

**Rago**

He did not know how long he had been awake. He did not know how long he had slept before that. All he had known was this ancient temple and the almost total darkness it contained.

"Hershel..."

His voice hissed around the echoing room. To his left a breathing pattern changed. "I am awake, sire."

"Keyser..."

Another change, this time to his right. "You called, my Lord?"

"_Cycnus..."_

There was no change. His Cycnus, loyal Cycnus, had been awake the entire time. In all the years of darkness, black-eyed Cycnus had never let him down. "What are your orders?"

"It is calling." The words were not his. They came from the part of him that had always know who he was; _what_ he was. "I am awake. The day passes. The Darkness is coming." He saw three feral smiles flash in the blackness. "We must be there to meet it."

* * *

_And so we end. I really hope you enjoyed this, because I had a lot of fun writing it. What ones did you like best? Did I miss anyone out that you really wanted? I'm now open for requests!  
_

_Huge thank you to everyone who reviewed - I will thank you all individually later._

_Bye bye, not-quite-NaNoWriMo challenge. I'll miss you._


	31. Request 1 - Jack

_And so, with five days to go until Christmas, I give you the requests. One each day, except Christmas Eve where you'll get a three-for-one package!_

_Enjoy!_

_(You can still request after this, of course, but they'll go up on an as-and-when basis)_

* * *

**Jack**

Somehow, he must have fallen asleep in the art room.

Actually, that wasn't so surprising; he'd woken from an especially vivid dream that he just _knew_ would make the perfect masterpiece if he could capture it.

But now the sun was streaming in through the large windows and all traces of the night had vanished. So had the dream – except for the tiny fragment he had managed to pin to the canvas like a butterfly.

It didn't look like a butterfly, though.

It looked like an Arrangement.

Fragments of images and brilliant colour flashed across the canvas. Damian said that Arrangements helped reorganise his mind and make everything ordered. But Jack_'_s Arrangements turned his mind into a wickedly spinning kaleidoscope that threw shattered reflections of what had once been his memories back at him from a thousand directions until he could no longer distinguish memories from perfect works of art.


	32. Request 2 - Wales

_Wow, so many requests! I'll see what I can do, guys!_

* * *

**Wales  
**

In Julian's house, Wales would wake to one of the maids silently placing a steaming cup of tea on his bedside table. The tea would be made to perfection - he had argued long enough with the famously coffee-loving Italians of Julian's staff to make sure of that.

In Sophie's house, he would wake to music playing downstairs (normally Julian, actually, but occasionally Sophie). He gave up asking the housekeeper for tea and made do with orange juice.

In Klaus' home, he would be woken by the thunder of Klaus' brothers play-fighting down the corridor. The team would join the whole family at the table for an astonishing array of breads, jams, cold meats and cheeses. The tea was strong, like the coffee, but drinkable.

At his place, he made his own tea and breakfast just the way he liked them, and smiled as Julian cheerfully passed the marmalade to Sophie.


	33. Request 3 - Chris

**Chris  
**

Okay.

He was in a hotel room. Quite a big one, too.

That was... good, he guessed. That meant that he had probably just finished a job and decided to treat himself with his reward. He was too sleepy to really remember the details, and most of him ached so it had probably been a pretty tough job into the bargain.

Chris rolled over, only to freeze in astonishment. There were two more beds in the room, both occupied. Slowly, his fuzzy mind connected the dots, recognising them.

"Masamune? King?"

And that was when he remembered that _he_ hadn't paid for this hotel room. He'd been brought here by a helicopter, nearly comatose with exhaustion, and the WBBA had covered the bill.

Because he didn't _have_ to blade for money any more.

Because the only thing that mattered now was the battle.

Because there were people who had his back.


	34. Request 4 - The Garcias

_Sorry this is so late - very bad internet at our house yesterday. Just in case that happens again tonight, I wish you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas._

_I couldn't decide which Garcia I wanted to write about, so I did all of them..._

* * *

**The Garcias**

Mornings were the worst.

_Enzo complained, like always._

It wasn't that they would wake up hungry, because a lot of the time they went to sleep hungry and so that was just normal for them.

_Selen yawned, rubbing her eyes._

It wasn't that they were always tired no matter how much sleep they got, because they'd learnt how to get up and keep moving no matter what (there was always some adult with a broom or worse to chase them away from their night-time hideout).

_Ian stretched._

It wasn't that waking up cold and stiff after a night spent curled uncomfortably in the corner of a warehouse or in a doorway got old _really_ quickly because no matter what they thought of themselves, they were still just children, really.

_Argo smiled grimly._

It was because, for them, the sun might come out tomorrow, but that didn't mean things would change.


	35. Request 5 - Team Desert Blaze

_My internet currently hates me. Updates will appear when possible – sorry! I'd meant to have loads of updates ready for a massive Christmas present for all of you, but now it might have to be a New Years present. In other news, Happy Christmas!  
_

_Team Desert Blaze only appear in a single episode of Metal Masters (I have not seen Shogun Steel) and so this was the greatest challenge in terms of characterisation – they don't actually have much!_

_For this one, because the characters are so underdeveloped, I've combined all of their words into one, so this is a 450-word fic (approximately - due to increased word count, OpenOffice counted this for me, and it's not one hundred percent accurate. You know, I count all of the 150-word ones by hand!)._

* * *

**Team Desert Blaze**

Unlike most of their peers, Team Desert Blaze were definitely a 'morning team'. They were up long before the sun and were normally training as its light crept into the hollow they used as a practice arena. They prided themselves on their discipline and control.

And so today was a bit strange. As the responsible one, Gasur had always been the first awake, the one who would pull the curtains open even if it was pitch-black outside because that was the sound that the other two associated with mornings like an alarm clock. But today he stayed curled up under the covers, drifting in and out of sleep as the sun crept under the curtains and over the floor.

"Huh? What time is it?" Karte's voice was muffled from sleep, but that didn't hide the shock in it. Since joining the team, there had never been a day when he had woken in daylight. It just didn't happen. "Gasur? You okay?"

Gasur wasn't certain if he wanted to wake up enough to answer that, because if he woke up then he would have to face up to the fact that yesterday had not been a horrible, horrible dream. He still didn't understand how it had happened. He was strong, and Karte and Zidane were even stronger, especially combined.

To have to give up their World Championship dreams at the very first hurdle, in front of their home crowd, was a humiliation that Gasur wasn't certain he was strong enough to face.

"Seriously, Gasur! If you're dead I kind of need to know about it!"

"Wassat, Karte? Gasur's dead?"

"No, I don't think so, Zidane. No, he just blinked, so he's alive. What's up?" Karte suddenly frowned and sat up. "Is this about yesterday?"

Cover blown, Gasur sat up as well, noticing a tousle-haired Zidane doing the same one bed over. "Are we really that weak?" Gasur asked.

"No." Karte's response was sharp and fierce. "Maybe you underestimated him. Maybe we weren't prepared to meet the top beyblader in Europe – yes, I looked him up, he's the best on the continent. But we _are_ world-class material." He looked to Zidane for support. "Right?"

Zidane nodded. "He's filthy rich and has the best tutors in the world for _everything._ So what if his technique was better than ours? I bet rich boy doesn't know what it's like being in a real team." He grinned. "And I'll bet he's never done a pre-dawn assault course."

Gasur allowed himself to smile just a bit. "We'll beat him next year."

"Even if it means waking up at midnight," Zidane swore.


End file.
